Update: Sadly, this bill did not complete the legislative process prior to adjournment.
Bill Description: This bill would ban the use of steel-jawed leghold traps, Conibear traps, and snares. An exception would be made if public health and safety is jeopardized.
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Leghold and Conibear traps and snares are arbitrary and antiquated. These devices cause immense suffering as the animals they capture may die of dehydration, starvation, or predation from other animals if the trapper fails to check the device soon after the animal stumbles into it. Furthermore, these devices are not species-selective. They are an indiscriminate killing method that sometimes catches and kills non-target animals, including family cats and dogs and endangered species. One tragic example of the arbitrariness of these devices occurred in October 2003 in Maui, when a pregnant dog was caught and injured by 1 of 19 snares placed in Upcountry.